Elder Kyle Reynolds: Facing that Wall of Faith!!

2 more weeks...Endure to the End!

Hello Everyone!
It's so weird having everything that I never thought would occur...occur! Like the last zone conference that I would have and the last testimony I would give at zone conference, seeing some people for the last time...Not going to lie it doesn't feel quite real yet but it does feel like something huge is about to happen in my life! lol So in the mission we have a tradition of having the missionaries that are going home share their testimonies. It was pretty amazing. I feel like ever since I started the mission I have prepared for that final testimony lol but I still felt so inadequate and unlearned to be able to bear testimony of the things I have learned. Boy do I love being a missionary. Then afterwards, we were able to visit a few of the families in Ambato that I got close to when I was serving there. It was so nice to see them again. Now being able to fully communicate with them and express myself was a lot better than before haha. I seriously love the people here. They are awesome.

The Arias Family

This week was a pretty crazy one. We had one full day of work throughout the whole week due to meetings in different cities and zone conference. You want to know how to absolutely torture an ending missionary? You lock him in his house for a full weekend...UGH! (They had to stay indoors from Friday-Monday because of the fiesta Mama Negra that was going on in Latacunga. There's a lot of alcohol involved so rules are they have to stay in). I was commenting to my companion that it's so crazy that how when we are working, we long to just take a nap or a little rest in the house, and then when you actually do get the chance it's the worst thing ever! Weird how we want things that won't give us any satisfaction...Elder Cox and I got really close though. I love that missionary. He is one of my favorite companions. So humble and full of life. Another plus of staying in is the amount of studying we were able to put in! I have been reading in Doctrine & Covenants and I love it! It's crazy how much revelation Joseph Smith was able to receive. I love how every big or little thing he has questions about, he asks God. I know that God is willing and wanting to answer every big or little thing in our lives. In my opinion, we should have our own Doctrine & Covenants! lol With Elder Holland, I too love the rush of revelation. Like I said, I am always learning so much from everyone around me. This time it was from an investigator named Cristian. He is awesome. We have been teaching him for something like 2 months and is just a stud. I love him so much. Anyways, obviously we were focusing a lot on gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon and to see if the church is true. Not going to lie, he has A LOT of problems with a lot of commandments. But what I love about the way the lessons are lined up is that it focuses on gaining a testimony first and then teaching the commandments. Because it is true that if you look at it from an outward perspective, the church has a ton of rules...But once you know the "why" of it all...one wouldn't want to obey all the rules in order to gain all the blessings that come from knowing that this is the truth!!! Anyways, one day while we were walking, we got a random call from him and he was almost yelling but saying that he got the answer!!!! Man it was a joy to hear that. Especially that he called us!!! So now we are on to preparing him for baptism and we taught him about the law of tithing. I love his faith, but this one really tried his faith. He showed us his finances subtracting his debts and child support and everything else and was left with less than 10% of what his gross was, not to mention just money to let him eat. I use to hate teaching about tithing because I know they are people and that it's super difficult, seemingly impossible to do! But now I love it, I love seeing miracles happen. I absolutely love putting money on God and knowing with absolute surety that He will always pull through. As we read the promise of tithing it always hits me to the heart, PROBADME AHORA EN ESO...I LOVE THAT!! Try me I dare you!!! haha he then tried to go around it and find ways to be able to keep tithing without paying the full 10% but after a few lessons he and us realized that it was a yes or no. One of the most heartbreaking excuses he told us was he was saving up to buy his kid a nice toy and wanted to give him everything that he never had when he was a little toddler...It came to us the exact answer that the absolute best gift you could ever give your kid is that he knows that you are a man of God. That you keep the commandments and that's that. But if that wasn't enough the next lesson we planned something special...We called it the wall of faith. I told him about my experience and everything I had to go through coming on a mission and the testimony that I have that sooner or later in life we all have to face that wall of faith. There is no way around it...you just have to face it and go. It will be the absolute hardest, scariest, terrifying thing in your life but will be the most rewarding. And sure enough I can bear testimony of that truth. And boom, he is going to get baptized. Man I love the personal experiences we have so that we are able to help others. Even though at the moment it sucks going through, I love being able to empathize with people in order to know how to help them. I love this work! I love you all! Thank you for bearing with me and for those who do read my emails haha. I love you guys so much!
Elder Reynolds

Elder Reynolds